TRANSFORMING EUROPE – ONE LIFE AT A TIME
LOVE FOR THE ORPHANS
IN BULGARIA by Anatoli Yankov
It’s over 20 years since Anatoli quit his job as a professional judo coach to serve God as a church planter, along with his wife Desi. Their ministry with orphans commenced about six years ago while visiting the local children’s home. They began to bring the children food, clothing and gifts during the holidays and then started a programme called ‘Integration of Orphaned Children through Sport’ Eventually, the state-run children’s home was closed down, however Anatoli and Desi had grown to love the orphans and so continued to work with them in the settlements where they went to live.
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any of the children live in very bad conditions, but they are helped through visits, advice, food supplies, clothes, firewood and any other essential needs. More and more kids are calling us for help. Last December we organised a reunion for 12 of the orphans in the town of Sevlievo. We paid for them to stay at a hotel along with food and travelling expenses. That cost us about £450. A pastor friend of mine helped us organise
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Our desire is to have a sheltered home where orphaned youths can stay for free for about two years to help them adapt to society, have some training and find jobs, build social and life skills, learn teamwork, money management and much more.
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it all. The kids were really encouraged. We shared from God’s Word about what Christ has done for them. Some already attend local evangelical churches in Sevlievo and Veliko Tarnovo. Would you please pray for these following young people? Camelia and her husband Kemmo have a new baby boy called Chris. For now, Kemmo has a job but needs help with food and wood for the winter. Gaby had a baby boy last December and his name is Beloslav. She is a single mum, and lives with her mother, step father and their five-year-old child. They are very poor and need food and firewood. Gaby has physical problems and cannot breastfeed the baby, so she needs supplies of infant milk. Mincho was found sleeping in Plovdiv train station. He’s illiterate so finding him a job is a great challenge. Also, his ID card has expired but we can’t have it
TRANSFORM EUROPE NETWORK / APRIL – JUNE 2018